Mirza Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Muhammad Bahadur Shah Zafar (24 October 1775 – 7 November 1862) was the last Mughal emperor. He was the second son[1] of and became the successor to his father, Akbar II, upon his death on 28 September 1837. He was a nominal Emperor, as the Mughal Empire existed in name only and his authority was limited only to the city of Delhi (Shahjahanabad). Following his involvement in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British exiled him to Rangoon in British-controlled Burma, after convicting him on conspiracy charges.

Zafar's father, Akbar II had been imprisoned by the English and he was not his father's preferred choice as his successor. One of Akbar Shah's queens, Mumtaz Begum, pressured him to declare her son, Mirza Jahangir, as his successor. However, The East India Company exiled Jahangir after he attacked their resident, in the Red Fort,[1] paving the way for Zafar to assume the throne.

The Maratha Empire had brought an end to the Mughal Empire in the Deccan in the 18th century and the regions of India under Mughal rule had either been absorbed by the Marathas or declared independence and turned into smaller kingdoms.[2] The Marathas installed Shah Alam II in the throne in 1772, under the protection of the Maratha general Mahadaji Shinde and maintained suzerainty over Mughal affairs in Delhi. The East India Company became the dominant political and military power in mid-nineteenth-century India. Outside the region controlled by the Company, hundreds of kingdoms and principalities, fragmented their land. The emperor was respected by the Company and had given him a pension. The emperor permitted the Company to collect taxes from Delhi and maintain a military force in it. Bahadur Shah never had any interest in statecraft or had any "imperial ambition". After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British exiled him from Delhi.

On 12 May 1857, Ahsan held his first formal audience in several years after defeating. It was attended by several sepoys who treated him "familiarly or disrespectfully".[5] When the sepoys first arrived at Bahadur Shah Zafar's court, he asked them why they had come to him because he had no means of maintaining them. Bahadur Shah Zafar's conduct was indecisive. However, he yielded to the demands of the sepoys when he was told that they would not be able to win against the East India Company without him.[6]

On 16 May, sepoys and palace servants killed 52 Europeans who were prisoners of the palace and who were discovered hiding in the city. The executions took place under a peepul tree in front of the palace, despite Zafar's protests. The aim of the executioners who were not the supporters of Zafar was to implicate him in the killings.[7] Once he had joined them, Bahadur Shah II took ownership for all the actions of the mutineers. Though Zafar was dismayed by the looting and disorder, he gave his public support to the rebellion. Bahadur Shah Zafar was not directly responsible for the massacre but he could have prevented it, which he did not and thus he was considered a consenting party during his trial.[6]

The administration of the city and its new occupying army was described as "chaotic and troublesome", which functioned "haphazardly". The Emperor nominated his eldest surviving son, Mirza Mughal, as the commander in chief of his forces. However, Mirza Mughal had little military experience and was rejected by the sepoys. The sepoys did not have any commander since each regiment refused to accept orders from someone other than their own officers. Mirza Mughal's administration extended no further than the city. Outside Gujjar herders began levying their own tolls on traffic, and it became increasingly difficult to feed the city.[8]

When the victory of the British became certain, Zafar took refuge at Humayun's Tomb, in an area that was then at the outskirts of Delhi. Company forces led by Major William Hodson surrounded the tomb and Zafar surrendered on 20 September 1857. The next day Hodson shot his sons Mirza Mughal and Mirza Khizr Sultan, and grandson Mirza Abu Bakr under his own authority at the Khooni Darwaza near the Delhi Gate. Severed heads of his three sons and grandson were brought before him.

Many male members of his family were killed by Company forces. Other surviving members of the Mughal dynasty were imprisoned or exiled.

The trial was a consequence of the Sepoy Mutiny and lasted for 41 days, had 19 hearings, 21 witnesses and over a hundred documents in Persian and Urdu, with their English translations, were produced in the court.[9] At first the trial was suggested to be held at Calcutta, the place where Directors of East India company used to their sittings in connection with their commercial pursuits. But instead, Red Fort in Delhi was selected for the trial.[10] It was the first case to be tried at the Red Fort.[11]

2) Encouraging and assisting divers persons in waging war against the British Government

3) Assuming the sovereignty of Hindoostan

4) Causing and being accessory to the murder of the Christians.

— Proceedings of the April 1858 Trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar 'King of Delhi'

On the 20th day of the trial, Bahadur Shah II defended himself against these charges.[9] Bahadur Shah, in his defence, stated his complete helplessness before the will of the sepoys. The sepoys apparently used to affix his seal on empty envelopes, the contents of which he was absolutely unaware. While the emperor may have been overstating his impotence before the sepoys, the fact remains that the sepoys had felt powerful enough to dictate terms to anybody.[13] The 82-year-old poet king was harassed by the mutineers and were neither inclined to nor capable of providing any real leadership. Despite this, he was the primary accused in the trial for the rebellion.[11]

Hakim Ahsanullah Khan, Zafar's most trusted confidant and both his Prime Minister and personal physician, had insisted that Zafar not involve himself in the rebellion and surrender himself to the British. But when Zafar ultimately did this, Hakim Ahsanullah Khan betrayed him by providing evidence against him at the trial in return for a pardon for himself.[14]

Respecting Hodson's guarantee on his surrender, Zafar was not sentenced but exiled to Rangoon, Burma, where he died in November 1862 at the age of 87.[9] His wife Zeenat Mahal and some of the remaining members of the family accompanied him. At 4 am on 7 October 1858, Zafar along with his wives, two remaining sons began his journey towards Rangoon in bullock carts escorted by 9th Lancers under command of Lieutenant Ommaney.[15]

The occupying forces entered the Red Fort and stole anything that was valuable. Ancient objects, jewels, books and other cultural items were taken which can be found in various museums in Britain. For example, the Crown of Bahadur Shah II is a part of the Royal Collection in London.

In 1862, at the age of 87, he had reportedly acquired some illness. In October, his condition deteriorated. He was "spoon-fed on broth" but he found that difficult too by 3 November.[16] On 6 November, the British Commissioner H.N. Davies recorded that Zafar "is evidently sinking from pure despitude and paralysis in the region of his throat". To prepare for his death Davies commanded for the collection of lime and bricks and a spot was selected at the "back of Zafar's enclosure" for his burial. Zafar died on Friday, 7 November 1862 at 5 am. Zafar was buried at 4 pm near the Shwe Degon Pagoda at 6 Ziwaka Road, near the intersection with Shwe Degon Pagoda road, Yangon, Myanmar. The shrine of Bahadur Shah Zafar Dargah was built there after recovery of its tomb on 16 February 1991.[17][18] Davies commenting on Zafar, described his life to be "very uncertain".

A panorama showing the imperial procession to celebrate the feast of the Eid ul-Fitr, with the emperor on the elephant to the left and his sons to the right (24 October 1843)

Bahadur Shah Zafar was a devout Sufi.[23] He was regarded as a Sufi Pir and used to accept murids or pupils.[23] The newspaper Delhi Urdu Akhbaar described him as "one of the leading saints of the age, approved of by the divine court."[23] Before his accession, he lived like "a poor scholar and dervish", differing from his three royal brothers, Mirza Jahangir, Salim and Babur.[23] In 1828, a decade before he succeeded the throne, Major Archer said that "Zafar is a man of spare figure and stature, plainly apparelled, almost approaching to meanness."[23] His appearance is that of an indigent munshi or teacher of languages".[23]

As a poet, Zafar imbibed the highest subtleties of mystical Sufi teachings.[23] He was also a believer of the magical and superstitious side of the Orthodox Sufism.[23] Like many of his followers, he believed that his position as both a Sufi pir and emperor gave him spiritual powers.[23] In an incident in which one of his followers was bitten by a snake, Zafar tried to cure him by giving a "seal of Bezoar" (a stone antidote to poison) and some water on which he had breathed to the man to drink.[24]

The emperor had a staunch belief in ta'aviz or charms, especially as a palliative for his constant complaint of piles, or to ward off evil spells.[24] During a period of illness, he told a group of Sufi pirs that several of his wives suspected that someone had cast a spell over him.[24] He requested them to take some steps to remove all apprehension on this account. The group wrote some charms and asked the emperor to mix them in water and drink it, which would protect him from the evil. A coterie of pirs, miracle workers and Hindu astrologers were always in touch with the emperor. On their advice, he would sacrifice buffaloes and camels, buried eggs and arrested alleged black magicians, and wore a ring that cured for his indigestion. He also donated cows to the poor, elephants to the Sufi shrines and horses to the khadims or clergy of Jama Masjid.[24]

In one of his verses, Zafar explicitly stated that both Hinduism and Islam shared the same essence.[25] This philosophy was implemented by his court which embodied a multicultural composite Hindu-Islamic Mughal culture.[25]

He was a prolific Urdu poet and calligrapher.[26] He wrote the following Ghazal (Video search) as his own epitaph. In his book, The Last Mughal, William Dalrymple states that, according to Lahore scholar Imran Khan, the beginning of the verse, umr-e-darāz māńg ke ("I asked for a long life") was not written by Zafar, and does not appear in any of the works published during Zafar's lifetime.[citation needed] The verse was allegedly written by Simab Akbarabadi.[27]

1.
Mughal emperors
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The Mughal emperors were a branch of the Timurid dynasty. From the early 16th century to the early 18th they built and ruled the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the countries of Bangladesh, India. Their power rapidly dwindled during the 18th century and the last of the emperors was deposed in 1857, with the establishment of the British Raj. The dynasty was of Asian Turco-Mongol origin from a now part of modern-day Uzbekistan. Timur is generally known in the West as Tamerlane the Great and its population at the time has been estimated as between 110 and 150 million, over a territory of more than 3.2 million square kilometres. Ousted from his domains in Central Asia by Uzbek Khan. He established himself in Kabul and then pushed steadily southward into India from Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass, baburs forces occupied much of northern India after his victory at Panipat in 1526. The preoccupation with wars and military campaigns, however, did not allow the new emperor to consolidate the gains he had made in India, the instability of the empire became evident under his son, Humayun, who was driven out of India and into Persia by rebels. Humayuns exile in Persia established diplomatic ties between the Safavid and Mughal Courts, and led to increasing West Asian cultural influence in the Mughal court, the restoration of Mughal rule began after Humayun’s triumphant return from Persia in 1555, but he died from a fatal accident shortly afterwards. Humayuns son, Akbar, succeeded to the throne under a regent, Bairam Khan, through warfare and diplomacy, Akbar was able to extend the empire in all directions, and controlled almost the entire Indian subcontinent north of the Godavari river. He created a new class of nobility loyal to him from the aristocracy of Indias social groups, implemented a modern government. At the same time Akbar intensified trade with European trading companies and he left his successors an internally stable state, which was in the midst of its golden age, but before long signs of political weakness would emerge. Akbars son, Jahangir, ruled the empire at its peak, but he was addicted to opium, neglected the affairs of the state, and came under the influence of rival court cliques. During the reign of Jahangirs son, Shah Jahan, the culture, the maintenance of the court, at this time, began to cost more than the revenue. Shah Jahans eldest son, the liberal Dara Shikoh, became regent in 1658, however, a younger son, Aurangzeb, allied with the Islamic orthodoxy against his brother, who championed a syncretistic Hindu-Muslim religion and culture, and ascended to the throne. Aurangzeb defeated Dara in 1659 and had him executed, although Shah Jahan fully recovered from his illness, Aurangzeb declared him incompetent to rule and had him imprisoned. During Aurangzebs reign, the empire gained political strength once more, Aurangzeb expanded the empire to include almost the whole of South Asia, but at his death in 1707, many parts of the empire were in open revolt. Aurangzebs son, Shah Alam, repealed the religious policies of his father, however, after his death in 1712, the Mughal dynasty sank into chaos and violent feuds

2.
Padishah
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Its Arabized pronunciation as Badishah was used by Mughal emperors. The rulers on the following thrones – the first two effectively commanding major West Asian empires – were styled Padishah, The Shāhanshāh of Iran, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who used the Arabic version of the title, Badshah. Miangul Golshahzada Abdul Wadud of the tiny Pakistani North West Frontier state of Swat called himself badshah from November 1918 to March 1926, ahmed Shah Durrani founded the Durrani Empire in 1747 with the title Pādshah-i Afghanistan in Persian and Badcha Da Afghanistan in the Pashto language. The Sadozai were overthrown in 1823 but there was a restoration by Shah Shujah in 1839 with the help of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Empire. The last Basha bey of Tunisia, Muhammad VIII al-Amin, adopted the sovereign style padshah 20 March 1956 –25 July 1957, the paramount prestige of this title, in Islam and even beyond, is clearly apparent from the Ottoman Empires dealings with the European powers. The compound Pādshah-i-Ghazi is only recorded for two individual rulers, H. H, there is a large family of Turkish origin using the surname Badi in modern-day Libya. In 2008, a cricket team, the Lahore Badshahs, was founded. In India, Padishah is often a Muslim surname, from the trend of adopting titles as names by both royalty and commoners. In Frank Herberts 1965 novel Dune, the head of human space is styled Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe. In the Pathfinder role-playing game, the ruler of the Empire of Kelesh is styled Padishah Emperor, baig Emir Rana Shah Sultan RoyalArk — Select present country, then choose dynasty from its menu WorldStatesmen idem, more cases but less thorough Bartbleby. com Dictionary & Etymology

3.
Coronation
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The ceremony can also be conducted for the monarchs consort, either simultaneously with the monarch or as a separate event. A ceremony without the placement of a crown on the head is known as an enthronement. Coronations are still observed in the United Kingdom, Tonga, in addition to investing the monarch with symbols of state, Western-style coronations have often traditionally involve anointing with holy oil, or chrism as it is often called. Wherever a ruler is anointed in this way, as in Great Britain and Tonga, some other lands use bathing or cleansing rites, the drinking of a sacred beverage, or other religious practices to achieve a comparable effect. Such acts symbolise the granting of divine favour to the monarch within the relevant spiritual-religious paradigm of the country, in the past, concepts of royalty, coronation and deity were often inexorably linked. Rome promulgated the practice of worship, in Medieval Europe. Coronations were once a direct expression of these alleged connections. Thus, coronations have often been discarded altogether or altered to reflect the nature of the states in which they are held. However, some monarchies still choose to retain an overtly religious dimension to their accession rituals, others have adopted simpler enthronement or inauguration ceremonies, or even no ceremony at all. In non-Christian states, coronation rites evolved from a variety of sources, buddhism, for instance, influenced the coronation rituals of Thailand, Cambodia and Bhutan, while Hindu elements played a significant role in Nepalese rites. The ceremonies used in modern Egypt, Malaysia, Brunei and Iran were shaped by Islam, Coronations, in one form or another, have existed since ancient times. Egyptian records show coronation scenes, such as that of Seti I in 1290 BC, judeo-Christian scriptures testify to particular rites associated with the conferring of kingship, the most detailed accounts of which are found in II Kings 11,12 and II Chronicles 23,11. Following the assumption of the diadem by Constantine, Roman and Byzantine emperors continued to wear it as the symbol of their authority. Although no specific coronation ceremony was observed at first, one gradually evolved over the following century, the emperor Julian was hoisted upon a shield and crowned with a gold necklace provided by one of his standard-bearers, he later wore a jewel-studded diadem. Later emperors were crowned and acclaimed in a manner, until the momentous decision was taken to permit the Patriarch of Constantinople to physically place the crown on the emperors head. Historians debate when exactly this first took place, but the precedent was established by the reign of Leo II. This ritual included recitation of prayers by the Byzantine prelate over the crown, after this event, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the ecclesiastical element in the coronation ceremonial rapidly develop. This was usually performed three times, following this, the king was given a spear, and a diadem wrought of silk or linen was bound around his forehead as a token of regal authority

4.
Red Fort
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The Red Fort is a historical fort in the city of Delhi in India. It was the residence of the emperors of the Mughal dynasty for nearly 200 years. It is located in the center of Delhi and houses a number of museums, in addition to accommodating the emperors and their households, it was the ceremonial and political centre of the Mughal state and the setting for events critically impacting the region. The imperial apartments consist of a row of pavilions, connected by a channel known as the Stream of Paradise. The Red Fort’s innovative architectural style, including its garden design, influenced later buildings and gardens in Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Kashmir, Braj, Rohilkhand, the fort was plundered of its artwork and jewels during Nadir Shahs invasion of the Mughal Empire in 1747. Most of the precious marble structures were subsequently destroyed by British colonialists following the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. The fortss defensive walls were spared, and the fortress was subsequently used as a garrison. The Red Fort was also the site where British colonialists put the last Mughal Emperor on trial before exiling him to Rangoon in 1858. Every year on the Independence day of India, the Prime Minister hoists the Indian tricolour flag at the gate of the fort. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007 as part of the Red Fort Complex and its English name, Red Fort, is a translation of the Hindustani Lāl Qila deriving from its red-sandstone walls. As the residence of the family, the fort was originally known as the Blessed Fort. Agra Fort is also called Lāl Qila, Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1639, when he decided to shift his capital from Agra to Delhi. Originally red and white, the Shahs favourite colours, its design is credited to architect Ustad Ahmad Lahauri, the fort lies along the Yamuna River, which fed the moats surrounding most of the walls. Construction began in the month of Muharram, on 13 May 1638. Supervised by Shah Jahan, it was completed on 6 April 1648, unlike other Mughal forts, the Red Forts boundary walls are asymmetrical to contain the older Salimgarh Fort. The fortress-palace was a point of the medieval city of Shahjahanabad. Its planning and aesthetics represent the zenith of Mughal creativity prevailing during Shah Jahans reign and his successor Aurangzeb added the Pearl Mosque to the emperors private quarters, constructing barbicans in front of the two main gates to make the entrance to the palace more circuitous. The administrative and fiscal structure of the Mughal dynasty declined after Aurangzeb, when Jahandar Shah took over the Red Fort in 1712, it had been without an emperor for 30 years

5.
Delhi
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Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory of Delhi or NCT, is a city and a union territory of India. It is bordered by Haryana on three sides and by Uttar Pradesh to the east, the NCT covers an area of 1,484 square kilometres. According to 2011 census, Delhis city population was about 11 million, Delhis urban area is now considered to extend beyond the NCT boundary to include an estimated population of over 26 million people making it the worlds second largest urban area. As of 2016 recent estimates of the economy of its urban area have ranked Delhi either the top or second most productive metro area of India. Delhi is the second wealthiest city after Mumbai in India, with a wealth of $450 billion. Delhi has been inhabited since the 6th century BC. Through most of its history, Delhi has served as a capital of various kingdoms and it has been captured, ransacked and rebuilt several times, particularly during the medieval period, and modern Delhi is a cluster of a number of cities spread across the metropolitan region. New Delhi is jointly administered by the government of India and the local government of Delhi. Delhi is also the centre of the National Capital Region, which is a unique interstate regional planning area created by the National Capital Region Planning Board Act of 1985, Delhi ranks among the cities with the worst air pollution in the world. There are a number of myths and legends associated with the origin of the name Delhi, one of them is derived from Dhillu or Dilu, a king who built a city at this location in 50 BC and named it after himself. The coins in circulation in the region under the Tomaras were called dehliwal, according to the Bhavishya Purana, King Prithiviraja of Indraprastha built a new fort in the modern-day Purana Qila area for the convenience of all four castes in his kingdom. He ordered the construction of a gateway to the fort and later named the fort dehali, another theory suggests that the citys original name was Dhillika. The people of Delhi are referred to as Delhiites or Dilliwalas, the city is referenced in various idioms of the Northern Indo-Aryan languages. Dilli dilwalon ka shehr or Dilli Dilwalon ki meaning Delhi belongs to the large-hearted/daring, aas-paas barse, Dilli pani tarse, literally meaning it pours all around, while Delhi lies parched. An allusion to the sometimes semi-arid climate of Delhi, it refers to situations of deprivation when one is surrounded by plenty. The area around Delhi was probably inhabited before the second millennium BC, the city is believed to be the site of Indraprastha, the legendary capital of the Pandavas in the Indian epic Mahabharata. According to Mahabharata, this land was initially a huge mass of forests called Khandavaprastha which was burnt down to build the city of Indraprastha, the earliest architectural relics date back to the Maurya period, in 1966, an inscription of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka was discovered near Srinivaspuri. Remains of eight cities have been discovered in Delhi

6.
Mughal Empire
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The dynasty, though ethnically Turco-Mongol, was Persianate in terms of culture. The Mughal empire extended over parts of the Indian subcontinent. The beginning of the empire is conventionally dated to the victory by its founder Babur over Ibrahim Lodi, the Mughal emperors were Central Asian Turco-Mongols belonging to the Timurid dynasty, who claimed direct descent from both Genghis Khan and Timur. During the reign of Humayun, the successor of Babur, the empire was briefly interrupted by the Sur Empire, the classic period of the Mughal Empire started in 1556 with the ascension of Akbar the Great to the throne. Under the rule of Akbar and his son Jahangir, the region enjoyed economic progress as well as harmony. Akbar was a warrior who also forged alliances with several Hindu Rajput kingdoms. Some Rajput kingdoms continued to pose a significant threat to the Mughal dominance of northwestern India, the reign of Shah Jahan, the fifth emperor, between 1628 and 1658 was the golden age of Mughal architecture. He erected several monuments, the best known of which is the Taj Mahal at Agra, as well as the Moti Masjid, Agra, the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid, Delhi. By the mid-18th century, the Marathas had routed Mughal armies, during the following century Mughal power had become severely limited, and the last emperor, Bahadur Shah II, had authority over only the city of Shahjahanabad. He issued a firman supporting the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and following the defeat was therefore tried by the British East India Company for treason, imprisoned and exiled to Rangoon. Contemporaries referred to the empire founded by Babur as the Timurid empire, which reflected the heritage of his dynasty, another name was Hindustan, which was documented in the Ain-i-Akbari, and which has been described as the closest to an official name for the empire. In the west, the term Mughal was used for the emperor, and by extension, the use of Mughal derived from the Arabic and Persian corruption of Mongol, and it emphasised the Mongol origins of the Timurid dynasty. The term gained currency during the 19th century, but remains disputed by Indologists, similar terms had been used to refer to the empire, including Mogul and Moghul. Nevertheless, Baburs ancestors were sharply distinguished from the classical Mongols insofar as they were oriented towards Persian rather than Turco-Mongol culture, ousted from his ancestral domains in Central Asia, Babur turned to India to satisfy his ambitions. He established himself in Kabul and then pushed steadily southward into India from Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass, Baburs forces occupied much of northern India after his victory at Panipat in 1526. The preoccupation with wars and military campaigns, however, did not allow the new emperor to consolidate the gains he had made in India, the instability of the empire became evident under his son, Humayun, who was driven out of India and into Persia by rebels. Humayuns exile in Persia established diplomatic ties between the Safavid and Mughal Courts, and led to increasing Persian cultural influence in the Mughal Empire, the restoration of Mughal rule began after Humayuns triumphant return from Persia in 1555, but he died from a fatal accident shortly afterwards. Humayuns son, Akbar, succeeded to the throne under a regent, Bairam Khan, through warfare and diplomacy, Akbar was able to extend the empire in all directions and controlled almost the entire Indian subcontinent north of the Godavari River

7.
Akbar II
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Akbar II, also known as Akbar Shah II, was the penultimate Mughal emperor of India. He reigned from 1806 to 1837 and he was the second son of Shah Alam II and the father of Bahadur Shah II. Akbar had little de facto power due to the increasing British influence of India through the East India Company. He sent Ram Mohan Roy as an ambassador to Britain and gave him the title of Raja. During his regime, in 1835, the East India Company discontinued calling itself subject of the Mughal Emperor, the Persian lines in the Companys coins to this effect were deleted. He is credited with starting the Hindu-Muslim unity festival Phool Walon Ki Sair His grave lies next to the dargah of 13th century Sufi saint Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki at Mehrauli. Prince Mirza Akbar was born on 22 April 1760 to Emperor Shah Alam II at Mukundpur, Satna, on 2 May 1781, at the Red Fort, the prince was made Crown Prince with the title of Wali Ahd Bahadur, after the death of his elder brother. In In 1782 he was appointed the viceroy of Assam until 1799, when the renegade eunuch Ghulam Qadir captured Delhi, the young Prince Mirza Akbar was forced to nautch dance together along with other Mughal princes and princesses. He witnessed how the members of the imperial Mughal family were humiliated, when Mahmud Shah fled, Mirza Akbar was titular Emperor with the title of Akbar Shah II, and was to remain acting emperor even after the reinstation of his father Shah Alam II, till December 1788. Emperor Akbar II presided over an empire titularly large but in limited to the Red Fort in Delhi alone. The cultural life of Delhi as a whole flourished during his reign, the British therefore reduced his titular authority to King of Delhi in 1835 and the East India Company ceased to act as the mere lieutenants of the Mughal Empire as they did from 1803 to 1835. Simultaneously they replaced Persian text with English text on the companys coins, the British encouraged the Nawab of Oudh and the Nizam of Hyderabad to take royal titles in order to further diminish the Emperors status and influence. Out of deference, the Nizam did not, but the Nawab of Awadh did so, Ram Mohan Roy submitted a well argued memorial on behalf of the Mughal ruler, but to no avail. His grave lies, next to the dargah of the 13th century, Sufi saint, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki at Mehrauli, Delhi in an enclosure, along with that of Bahadur Shah I. Phool Walon Ki Sair Sair-e-Gulfaroshan It was year 1812, East India Company had penetrated to Mughal court completely and a Resident Officer was living inside the Red Fort, controlling the administration of India. Coins were struck by British Mints and name of Mughal Emperor was removed from currency. Emperor Shah Alam II had died, for whom people started saying at the end of his reign ‘Badshah Shah Alam, Az Delhi, Ta Palam’ which means, Emperor Shah Alam’s rule is from Delhi to Palam only. Shah Alam II’s son, Akbar II was the king and Archibald Seton. Next in line to throne, Crown Prince Mirza Jahangir was against British way of working, one day, this reckless young prince of 19 insulted Seton by calling him Lullu

8.
Queen Victoria
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Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she adopted the title of Empress of India. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, both the Duke of Kent and King George III died in 1820, and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German-born mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne aged 18, after her fathers three brothers had all died, leaving no surviving legitimate children. The United Kingdom was already a constitutional monarchy, in which the sovereign held relatively little direct political power. Privately, Victoria attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments, publicly, Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together, after Alberts death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength and her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration. Her reign of 63 years and seven months is known as the Victorian era and it was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover and her son and successor, Edward VII, belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the line of his father. Victorias father was Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, until 1817, Edwards niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, was the only legitimate grandchild of George III. Her death in 1817 precipitated a crisis that brought pressure on the Duke of Kent. In 1818 he married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a widowed German princess with two children—Carl and Feodora —by her first marriage to the Prince of Leiningen and her brother Leopold was Princess Charlottes widower. The Duke and Duchess of Kents only child, Victoria, was born at 4.15 a. m. on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London. Victoria was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Manners-Sutton, on 24 June 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace and she was baptised Alexandrina, after one of her godparents, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria, after her mother. Additional names proposed by her parents—Georgina, Charlotte, and Augusta—were dropped on the instructions of the Dukes eldest brother, George, the Duke of Clarence and the Duke of Kent married on the same day in 1818, but both of Clarences daughters died as infants. Victorias father died in January 1820, when Victoria was less than a year old, a week later her grandfather died and was succeeded by his eldest son, George IV. The Duke of York died in 1827, when George IV died in 1830, he was succeeded by his next surviving brother, William IV, and Victoria became heir presumptive

9.
Emperor of India
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The term Emperor of India is also used to refer to pre-British Indian emperors. The new title was proclaimed at the Delhi Durbar of 1877, the title had been eagerly assumed by Victoria in 1876, after she had been pressuring Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Benjamin Disraeli to agree to her assuming the title for some years. The idea of having Victoria proclaimed empress of India was not new as Lord Ellenborough had already suggested it in 1843 on becoming governor-general of India. The Queen, possibly irritated by the sallies of the republicans, the tendency to democracy, by January 1876, the Queens insistence was such that the Prime Minister felt he could procrastinate no more. Another reason Queen Victoria was titled Empress of India was because her daughter Victoria was to be eventually Empress of Germany so she didnt want to be ranked behind her daughter. The new styling would underline the fact that the states were no longer a mere agglomeration. When Victorias successor Edward VII ascended the throne in 1901, he continued to use the title Emperor of India, the title continued after India became independent on 15 August 1947 until it was formally abandoned on 22 June 1948 during the reign of King George VI. When signing off Indian business, the reigning British King-Emperors or queen-empress used the initials R I or the abbreviation Ind, when a male monarch held the title his wife, the queen consort, used the style queen-empress, though she was not herself a reigning monarch. British coins and those of the Empire and Commonwealth routinely included the abbreviated title Ind, imp. although in India itself the coins said Empress, and later King Emperor. When in 1947 India became independent all coining dies had to be changed, canadian coins, for example, were minted well into 1948 stamped 1947, the new years issue indicated by a small maple leaf in one corner. In Great Britain itself the title appeared on coinage through 1948

10.
Maratha Empire
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The Maratha Empire or the Maratha Confederacy was an Indian power that existed from 1674 to 1818 and ruled over much of the Indian sub-continent. The Marathas are credited to an extent for ending the Mughal rule in India. The Marathas are Hindu warrior group from the western Deccan Plateau that rose to prominence by establishing a Hindavi Swarajya, known for their mobility, the Marathas were able to consolidate their territory during the Mughal–Maratha Wars and later controlled a large part of India. Chhattrapati Shahu, grandson of Shivaji, was released by Mughals after the death of Emperor Aurangzeb, following a brief struggle with his aunt Tarabai, Shahu became ruler and appointed Balaji Vishwanath and later, his descendants, as the peshwas or prime ministers of the empire. Balaji and his descendants played a key role in expansion of Maratha rule, the empire at its peak stretched from Tamil Nadu in the south to Peshawar in the north, and Bengal and Andaman Islands in the east. In 1761, the Maratha Army lost the Third Battle of Panipat to Ahmad Shah Abdali of the Afghan Durrani Empire which halted their imperial expansion into Afghanistan, ten years after Panipat, the young Peshwa Madhavrao Is Maratha Resurrection reinstated Maratha authority over North India. In a bid to manage the large empire, Madhavrao I gave semi-autonomy to the strongest of the knights. They became known as the Gaekwads of Baroda, the Holkars of Indore and Malwa, the Scindias of Gwalior and Ujjain, the Bhonsales of the Nagpur and the Puars of Dhar and Dewas. In 1775, the East India Company intervened in a Peshwa family succession struggle in Pune, the Marathas remained the preeminent power in India until their defeat in the Second and Third Anglo-Maratha Wars which left the East India Company in control of most of India. A large portion of the Maratha empire was coastline, which had secured by the potent Maratha Navy under commanders such as Kanhoji Angre. He was very successful at keeping foreign naval ships, particularly of the Portuguese and British, securing the coastal areas and building land-based fortifications were crucial aspects of the Marathas defensive strategy and regional military history. The Maratha Empire is also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, the historian Barbara Ramusack says that the former is a designation preferred by Indian nationalists, while the latter was that used by British historians. Maratha power was fragmented among several discrete fragments, although at present, the word Maratha refers to a particular caste of warriors and peasants, in the past the word has been used to describe Marathi people, including Marathas themselves. Shivaji was a Maratha aristocrat of the Bhosle clan who is considered to be the founder of the Maratha empire. Shivaji led a resistance to free the Maratha people from the Sultanate of Bijapur and he created an independent Maratha kingdom with Raigad as its capital and successfully fought against the Mughals to defend his kingdom. He was crowned as Chhatrapati of the new Maratha kingdom in 1674, the state Shivaji founded was a Maratha kingdom comprising about 4. 1% of the subcontinent, but spread over large tracts. At the time of his death is was dotted with about 300 forts, about 40,000 cavalry,50,000 foot soldiers and naval establishments all over the west coast. Over time, the kingdom would increase in size and heterogeneity, Shivaji had two sons, Sambhaji and Rajaram

11.
Yangon
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Yangon is a former capital of Myanmar and the capital of Yangon Region. Although Yangons infrastructure is undeveloped compared to that of major cities in southeast Asia. Yangon is a combination of the two words yan and koun, which enemies and run out of, respectively. It is also translated as End of Strife, Rangoon most likely comes from the British imitation of the pronunciation of Yangon in the Arakanese language, which is. Yangon was founded as Dagon in the early 11th century by the Mon, Dagon was a small fishing village centred about the Shwedagon Pagoda. In 1755, King Alaungpaya conquered Dagon, renamed it Yangon, the British captured Yangon during the First Anglo-Burmese War, but returned it to Burmese administration after the war. The city was destroyed by a fire in 1841, the British seized Yangon and all of Lower Burma in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, and subsequently transformed Yangon into the commercial and political hub of British Burma. Yangon is also the place where the British sent Bahadur Shah II, Yangon became the capital of all British Burma after the British had captured Upper Burma in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885. By the 1890s Yangons increasing population and commerce gave birth to prosperous residential suburbs to the north of Royal Lake, the British also established hospitals including Rangoon General Hospital and colleges including Rangoon University. Colonial Yangon, with its spacious parks and lakes and mix of modern buildings, by the early 20th century, Yangon had public services and infrastructure on par with London. Before World War II, about 55% of Yangons population of 500,000 was Indian or South Asian, karens, the Chinese, the Anglo-Burmese and others made up the rest. After World War I, Yangon became the epicentre of Burmese independence movement, three nationwide strikes against the British Empire in 1920,1936 and 1938 all began in Yangon. Yangon was under Japanese occupation, and incurred heavy damage during World War II, the city was retaken by the Allies in May 1945. Yangon became the capital of Union of Burma on 4 January 1948 when the country regained independence from the British Empire, soon after Burmas independence in 1948, many colonial names of streets and parks were changed to more nationalistic Burmese names. In 1989, the current military junta changed the citys English name to Yangon, since independence, Yangon has expanded outwards. Successive governments have built satellite towns such as Thaketa, North Okkalapa and South Okkalapa in the 1950s to Hlaingthaya, Shwepyitha, today, Greater Yangon encompasses an area covering nearly 600 square kilometres. During Ne Wins isolationist rule, Yangons infrastructure deteriorated through poor maintenance, in the 1990s, the current military governments more open market policies attracted domestic and foreign investment, bringing a modicum of modernity to the citys infrastructure. Some inner city residents were relocated to new satellite towns

12.
British rule in Burma
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The annexed territories were designated the minor province, British Burma, of British India in 1862. After the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885, Upper Burma was annexed, and the following year and this arrangement lasted until 1937, when Burma began to be administered separately by the Burma Office under the Secretary of State for India and Burma. British rule was disrupted during the Japanese occupation of much of the country during the Second World War, Burma achieved independence from British rule on 4 January 1948. They were administered separately by the British with a Burma Frontier Service, the Frontier Areas were inhabited by ethnic minorities such as the Chin, the Shan, the Kachin and the Karenni. By 1931 Burma had 8 divisions, split into a number of districts, in Danuphyu, south of Ava, the Burmese general Maha Bandula was killed and his armies routed. The 1826 Treaty of Yandabo formally ended the First Anglo-Burmese War, the longest, fifteen thousand European and Indian soldiers died, together with an unknown number of Burmese army and civilian casualties. The campaign cost the British five million sterling to 13 million pounds sterling that led to a severe economic crisis in British India in 1833. After 25 years of peace, the British and Burmese fighting started afresh, King Mindon tried to readjust to the thrust of imperialism. He enacted administrative reforms and made Burma more receptive to foreign interests, but the British effected the Third Anglo-Burmese War, which lasted less than two weeks during November 1885. British troops entered Mandalay on 28 November 1885 and Burma was attached to the British Empire on 1 January 1886, Burmese armed resistance continued sporadically for several years, and the British commander had to coerce the High Court of Justice to continue to function. The British decided to all of Upper Burma as a colony. The new colony of Upper Burma was attached to the Burma Province on 26 February 1886, Rangoon, having been the capital of British Lower Burma, became the capital of the province. It was also one of the first Southeast Asian countries to receive Buddhism, before the British conquest and colonisation, the ruling Konbaung Dynasty practised a tightly centralised form of government. The king was the executive, with the final say on all matters. The country had two codes of law, the Rajathat and Dammathat, and the Hluttaw, the centre of government, was divided into three branches—fiscal, executive, and judicial. In theory the king was in charge of all of the Hluttaw but none of his orders got put into place until the Hluttaw approved them, thus checking his power. Further dividing the country, provinces were ruled by governors who were all appointed by the Hluttaw, conflict began between Myanmar and the British when the Konbaung Dynasty decided to expand into Arakan in the state of Assam, close to the British possessions in India. This close contact led to the first Anglo-Burmese War, which the British won with the aid of the Siamese, Myanmar was forced to cede Assam and other northern provinces

13.
Myanmar
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Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also known as Burma, is a sovereign state in South East Asia bordered by Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand. About one third of Myanmars total perimeter of 5,876 km, forms an uninterrupted coastline of 1,930 km along the Bay of Bengal, the countrys 2014 census revealed a much lower population than expected, with 51 million people recorded. Myanmar is 676,578 square kilometres in size and its capital city is Naypyidaw and its largest city and former capital city is Yangon. Early civilizations in Myanmar included the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states in Upper Burma, the Pagan Kingdom fell due to the Mongol invasions and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the Taungoo Dynasty, the country was for a period the largest empire in the history of Mainland Southeast Asia. The early 19th century Konbaung Dynasty ruled over an area included modern Myanmar and briefly controlled Manipur. The British invaded Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century and the became a British colony. Myanmar became an independent nation in 1948, initially as a nation and then, following a coup détat in 1962. For most of its independent years, the country has been engrossed in rampant ethnic strife, during this time, the United Nations and several other organisations have reported consistent and systematic human rights violations in the country. In 2011, the junta was officially dissolved following a 2010 general election. While former military leaders still wield enormous power in the country, there is, however, continuing criticism of the governments treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority and its poor response to the religious clashes. In the landmark 2015 election, Aung San Suu Kyis party won a majority in both houses, Myanmar is a country rich in jade and gems, oil, natural gas and other mineral resources. In 2013, its GDP stood at US$56.7 billion, the income gap in Myanmar is among the widest in the world, as a large proportion of the economy is controlled by supporters of the former military government. As of 2016, according to the Human Development Index, Myanmar had a level of human development. The renaming remains a contested issue, many political and ethnic opposition groups and countries continue to use Burma because they do not recognise the legitimacy of the ruling military government or its authority to rename the country. The countrys official name is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Countries that do not officially recognise that name use the long form Union of Burma instead, in English, the country is popularly known as either Burma or Myanmar /ˈmjɑːnˌmɑːr/. Both these names are derived from the name of the majority Burmese Bamar ethnic group, Myanmar is considered to be the literary form of the name of the group, while Burma is derived from Bamar, the colloquial form of the groups name

14.
Zeenat Mahal
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Begum Sahiba Zeenat Mahal, also spelled Zinat Mahal, was the de facto Empress who ruled the Mughal Empire on behalf of the Emperor Bahadur Shah II Zafar. Zinat Mahal married Bahadur Shah II at Delhi on 19 November 1840 and bore him a son, but due to the primogeniture policy of the British, this was not accepted. She was suspected of poisoning the British Resident in Delhi, Thomas Metcalfe in 1853 for meddling too much in palace affairs and she resided at her own haveli in Lal Kuan, old Delhi. During the Indian rebellion of 1857, she kept her son out of contact with the rebels in an attempt to secure the throne for him. With the British victory, the two other sons were shot for supporting the rebels, however, her son did not become heir. In 1858, her husband was deposed by the British, bringing the Mughal empire to an end, after her husbands death in 1862, the British banned anyone from claiming the title of Emperor, in an attempt to dissolve the monarchy. She died on 17 July 1886 and she was buried in her husbands tomb in Yangons Dagon Township near the Shwedagon Pagoda. The site later known as Bahadur Shah Zafar Dargah. The grandchild of her and Bahadur Shah II is also buried alongside the couple, after remaining lost for many decades, the tomb was discovered during a restoration exercise in 1991. Begum Hazrath Mahal Zeenat-un-Nissa Media related to Zeenat Mahal at Wikimedia Commons The Prime Minister at Bahadur Shah Zafars Dargah at CNN-IBN, May 30,2012

15.
Mirza Mughal
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Sultan Muhammad Zahir ud-din better known as well Mirza Mughal was a Mughal prince. He played a significant role during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Mirza Mughal was the fifth son of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the 12th and last Mughal emperor. His mother, Sharif-ul-Mahal Sayyidini, came from an aristocratic Sayyid family that claimed descent from Prophet Muhammad, following the death in 1856 of his elder step-brother Mirza Fakhru, Mirza Mughal became the eldest surviving legitimately born son of Bahadur Shah Zafar. However, the British refused to recognize anybody as heir to the throne of Delhi, in May 1857, sepoys of the British Indian army rebelled against their British officers and streamed into Delhi. A few days later, Mirza Mughal and some of his half-brothers petitioned their father to be appointed in charge of the rebel troops and their plea was initially refused but later granted, and Mirza Mughal was designated commander-in-chief. Shortly after his arrival, the emperor appointed Bakht Khan commander-in-chief, a few weeks later, following another reshuffle of offices, Mirza Mughal was given charge of administering the city of Delhi. Following the failure of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Emperor Bahadur Shah II left the Red Fort and took refuge in Humayun’s Tomb, with him were Mirza Mughal and two other princes. Their whereabouts was reported by spies to Major Hodson, who sent them a message saying that the party had no hope of escape and should surrender. After negotiations, Hodson accepted the surrender of Bahadur Shah II, the Emperor emerged from the tomb and exchanged greetings in person with Hodson. Finding the old man extremely frail with exertion, Hodson bid the Emperor take rest under a shady tree, as a sign of surrender the Emperor handed over his arms. The capture of the Emperor in the face of a threatening crowd dealt the mutineers a heavy blow, Mirza Mughal and the other sons of the king had refused to surrender, demanding guarantees of safety for themselves. On the following day with a few horsemen Hodson went back, again a crowd of thousands gathered, and Hodson ordered them to disarm, which they did. He sent the princes on with an escort of ten men, the princes were mounted on a bullock-cart and driven towards the city of Delhi. Shortly afterwards, with the Emperor secured but clearly in no condition to be transported to the city and he soon caught up with the party carrying the princes. As they approached the gates of the city, he found that a crowd of townsmen had gathered in the expectation of witnessing the return of the Emperor and the princes. Also, a crowd of villagers had followed in the wake of the Princes as they travelled the few miles to the gates of Delhi. It has been suggested that Hodson lost his nerve upon beholding the crowds, yet others have suggested that Hodson had made the agreement with the old Emperor in bad faith and that he had never intended to keep his word. At the city gate, Hodson ordered the three princes to get off the cart and they were then stripped of their upper garments

16.
Mirza Fath-ul-Mulk Bahadur
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His Royal Highness The Prince Mirza Fath-ul-Mulk Bahadur also known as Mirza Fakhru was the last Crown Prince of the Mughal Empire. His wives are- Raffat Sultan Begum and Wazir Khanum and he had two sons and one stepson. His legitimate sons were- Mirza Abu Bakht and Mirza Fakhrunda Jamal and his stepson was Daagh Dehlvi through his wife Wazir Khanum. A senior Prince of the Imperial Family of India, he was the son of Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar and he was made the Crown Prince in 1853. He was a brother of Prince Mirza Mughal and the younger brother of former Crown Prince Mirza Dara Bakht. He died of Cholera in 1856, in 1857, the First Indian War of Independence sparked an empire wide struggle, in 1858, the Mughal Era officially came to an end, signifying the end of a 332-year rule. In 1877, the title Emperor of India was taken by the British Royal Family starting with Queen Victoria and he also married Wazir Khanum, a beautiful lady of the time and through her had a stepson, the noted poet, Daagh Dehlvi. He had a son shazada fakhrunda marry to abida begum granddaughter of her uncle Dara bakht who died 1963 at Delhi and he join to British service Media related to Mirza Fath-ul-Mulk at Wikimedia Commons Family tree of the Mughal Royal family

17.
Mirza Jawan Bakht (Mughal prince)
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Mirza Jawan Bakht was the son of Emperor Bahadur Shah II and the Padshah, Zinat Mahal, her only son. He was the son, and his mother nursed the ambition of placing on the Mughal throne. Unfortunately. Jawan Bakhts first child born to him was a son who was born in 1859. He was named Jamshid Bakht, Jamshid had two sons named Sikandar Bakht and Mohammed Bedar Bakht who died in 1980. His mother, Zinat Mahal, saved him all through 1857 rebellion and she began promoting her son, Mirza Jawan Bakht, as heir to the throne over the Emperors remaining eldest son Mirza Fath-ul-Mulk Bahadur. But due to the policy of the British, this was not accepted. He led a life and was selfish. He got married on 2 April 1852 in a marriage in Delhi to Nawab Shah Zamani Begum. His mother planned his lavish 10-day wedding to elevate his stature for the throne, after the Mughal emperors death in Rangoon, he was buried there and Prince Jawan Bakht and his teacher Hafiz Mohammed Ibrahim Dehlavi arranged the funeral prayers and his burial. His sons name was Mirza shah bahadur Zafar Ali Mohamed Malthum Al Zakir Rashid bin khan

18.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic

19.
Sunni Islam
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Sunni Islam is the largest group of Islam. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the behavior of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. According to Sunni tradition, Muhammad did not clearly designate a successor and this contrasts with the Shia view, which holds that Muhammad intended his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib to succeed him. Political tensions between Sunnis and Shias continued with varying intensity throughout Islamic history and they have been exacerbated in recent times by ethnic conflicts, as of 2009, Sunni Muslims constituted between 87–90% of the worlds Muslim population. Sunni Islam is the worlds largest religious denomination, followed by Catholicism and its adherents are referred to in Arabic as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah or ahl as-sunnah for short. In English, its doctrines and practices are sometimes called Sunnism, while adherents are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, Sunnites, Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as orthodox Islam. The Quran, together with hadith and binding juristic consensus form the basis of all traditional jurisprudence within Sunni Islam, sunnī, also commonly referred to as Sunnīism, is a term derived from sunnah meaning habit, usual practice, custom, tradition. The Muslim use of this term refers to the sayings and living habits of the prophet Muhammad, in Arabic, this branch of Islam is referred to as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah, the people of the sunnah and the community, which is commonly shortened to ahl as-sunnah. One common mistake is to assume that Sunni Islam represents a normative Islam that emerged during the period after Muhammads death, and that Sufism and Shiism developed out of Sunni Islam. This perception is due to the reliance on highly ideological sources that have been accepted as reliable historical works. Both Sunnism and Shiaism are the end products of centuries of competition between ideologies. Both sects used each other to further cement their own identities and doctrines, the first four caliphs are known among Sunnis as the Rashidun or Rightly-Guided Ones. Sunni recognition includes the aforementioned Abu Bakr as the first, Umar who established the Islamic calendar as the second, Uthman as the third, Sunnis believe that the companions of Muhammad were the best of Muslims. Support for this view is found in the Quran, according to Sunnis. Sunnis also believe that the companions were true believers since it was the companions who were given the task of compiling the Quran, furthermore, narrations that were narrated by the companions are considered by Sunnis to be a second source of knowledge of the Muslim faith. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2010 and released January 2011 found that there are 1.62 billion Muslims around the world, Islam does not have a formal hierarchy or clergy. Leaders are informal, and gain influence through study to become a scholar of Islamic law, according to the Islamic Center of Columbia, South Carolina, anyone with the intelligence and the will can become an Islamic scholar. During Midday Mosque services on Fridays, the congregation will choose a person to lead the service

20.
Indian Rebellion of 1857
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The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major, but ultimately unsuccessful, uprising in India in 1857–58 against British rule. For nearly 100 years, that rule had been presided over by the British East India Company, the rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the Companys army in the garrison town of Meerut,40 miles northeast of Delhi. It then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east. The rebellion posed a threat to British power in that region. On 1 November 1858, the British granted amnesty to all rebels not involved in murder, though they did not declare the hostilities formally to have ended until 8 July 1859. The rebellion is known by names, including the Sepoy Mutiny, the Indian Mutiny, the Great Rebellion, the Revolt of 1857, the Indian Insurrection. Many Indians did rise against the British, however, very many also fought for the British, after the outbreak of the mutiny in Meerut, the rebels very quickly reached Delhi, whose 81-year-old Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar, they declared the Emperor of Hindustan. Soon, the rebels had captured large tracts of the North-Western Provinces. The East India Companys response came rapidly as well, with help from reinforcements, Kanpur was retaken by mid-July 1857, and Delhi by the end of September. However, it took the remainder of 1857 and the better part of 1858 for the rebellion to be suppressed in Jhansi, Lucknow. Other regions of Company controlled India—Bengal province, the Bombay Presidency, in the Punjab, the Sikh princes crucially helped the British by providing both soldiers and support. In some regions, most notably in Awadh, the took on the attributes of a patriotic revolt against European presence. However, the rebel leaders proclaimed no articles of faith that presaged a new political system, even so, the rebellion proved to be an important watershed in Indian- and British Empire history. India was thereafter administered directly by the British government in the new British Raj, on 1 November 1858, Queen Victoria issued a proclamation to Indians, which while lacking the authority of a constitutional provision, promised rights similar to those of other British subjects. In the following decades, when admission to these rights was not always forthcoming, the victory was consolidated in 1764 at the Battle of Buxar, when the East India Company army defeated Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. After his defeat, the granted the Company the right to the collection of Revenue in the provinces of Bengal, Bihar. The Company soon expanded its territories around its bases in Bombay and Madras, later, the Anglo-Mysore Wars, in 1806, the Vellore Mutiny was sparked by new uniform regulations that created resentment amongst both Hindu and Muslim sepoys. After the turn of the 19th century, Governor-General Wellesley began what became two decades of accelerated expansion of Company territories and this was achieved either by subsidiary alliances between the Company and local rulers or by direct military annexation

21.
Mirza Jahangir
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Under the pressure of his mother, Mumtaz Begum, Akbar Shah declared him as his successor. He was Subehdar of Assam from 1813-1818. he was the 32 mughal ruler in Assam, Mirza Jahagirs father, the Mughal Emperor Akbar Shah II was not happy with his eldest son Siraj Uddin “Zafar” and wanted to nominate his younger son Mirza Jahangir as the heir Apparent. This move was not liked by the then British Resident in the Red Fort, once Mirza Jahangir who was a reckless youth of 19 insulted Seton in open court and called him Loolu. The British Resident somehow did not react to this insult as probably he did not understand the meaning of Loolu. After a few days, when Mirza Jahangir was merrymaking on the roof of Naubat Khana in Red Fort, Mirza Jahangir fired a shot at the Resident from the roof of Naubat Khana. Seton escaped but his orderly was killed, for this act of his, Mirza Jahangir was exiled to Allahabad under orders of the British Resident. After a couple of years Mirza Jahangir was released and like a devout lady Mumtaz Mahal Begum went to Mehrauli to redeem her vow, with her the Imperial Court also shifted to Mehrauli and so did the entire population of Delhi. For 7 days all sorts of merrymaking continued at Mehrauli with Jhoolas in the groves, cock fighting and bull bailin. Amidst all this merrymaking with great pomp and show, a made of flowers was offered at the Dargah of Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaki. The Mughal king was secular minded and under his orders floral offering in the shape of a floral pankha was offered at the famous Yogmaya Temple which is also in Mehrauli, the Darbar was also shifted to Mehrauli for the 7 days of the Festival. The Festival reached its pinnacle during the reign of Siraj-U-ddin “Zafar”, Bahadur Shah “Zafar” went to celebrate “Phool Walon Ki Sair” even in 1857 when Delhi was under siege of the British. This was the last “Phool Waalon Ki Sair” under the Mughals

22.
Shah Alam II
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Ali Gauhar, historically known as Shah Alam II, was the sixteenth Mughal Emperor. He was the son of Alamgir II, Shah Alam II was considered the only and rightful emperor but he wasnt able to return to Delhi until 1772, under the protection of the Maratha general Mahadaji Shinde. He also fought against the British East India Company at the Battle of Buxar, Shah Alam II also authored his own Diwan of poems and was known by the pen-name Aftab. His poems were guided, compiled and collected by Mirza Fakhir Makin, Ali Gauhar was born to Shahzada Aziz-ud-Din, son of the deposed Mughal Emperor Jahandar Shah, on 25 June 1728. Alongside his father, he grew up in semi-captivity in the Salatin quarters of the Red Fort, upon his fathers accession, he became the Wali Ahd of the empire, and became his fathers principal agent, though almost all power lay in the Wazir Imad-ul-Mulks hand. His quarrels with that amir, and fear for his own life, Prince Ali Gauhar, afterwards Emperor Shah Alam II had been the heir apparent of his father Alamgir II. After a daring escape from Delhi, Prince Ali Gauhar appeared in the provinces in 1759, hoping to strengthen his position by gaining control over Bengal, Bihar. Very soon however, Najib-ud-Daula, forced the usurper Feroze Jung III to flee from the capitol after he gathered a large Mughal Army outside Delhi, Najib-ud-Daula and Muslim nobles and then planned to defeat Marathas by maintaining correspondence with the powerful Ahmad Shah Durrani. After Ahmad Shah Durrani decisively defeated the Marathas, he nominated Ali Gauhar as the emperor under the name Shah Alam II, but the conflict soon involved the intervention of the assertive East India Company. Their forces were reinforced by the forces of Shuja-ud-Daula, Najib-ud-Daula, the Mughals were also joined by Jean Law and 200 Frenchmen and waged a campaign against the British during the Seven Years War. Prince Ali Gauhar successfully advanced as far as Patna, which he besieged with a combined army of over 40,000 in order to capture or kill Ramnarian a sworn enemy of the Mughals. Mir Jafar was in terror at the demise of his cohort and sent his own son Miran to relieve Ramnarian. After negotiations assuring peace Shah Alam II was escorted by the British to meet Mir Qasim the new Nawab of Bengal, who was nominated after the sudden death of Miran. Mir Qasim soon had the Mughal Emperors investiture as Subedar of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha, Shah Alam II then retreated to Allahabad was protected by the Shuja-ud-Daula, Nawab of Awadh from 1761 until 1764. Meanwhile, Mir Qasims relations with the British East India company began to worsen, angered by these developments the East India Company sought his ouster. Court intrigues encouraged by the East India company forced Mir Qasim to leave Bengal, Bihar, Mir Qasim on his part encouraged Shuja-ud-Daula the Nawab of Awadh and the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II to engage the British. The battle fought at Buxar, then within the territory of Bengal, soon after the Battle of Buxar, Shah Alam II, a sovereign who had just been defeated by the British, sought their protection by signing the Treaty of Allahabad in the year 1765. Shah Alam II was forced to grant the Diwani of Bengal to the British East India Company in return for a tribute of 2.6 million rupees to be paid by the company from the collected revenue

23.
East India Company
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The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India. The company received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600, wealthy merchants and aristocrats owned the Companys shares. Initially the government owned no shares and had only indirect control, during its first century of operation the focus of the Company was trade, not the building of an empire in India. The company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own armies, exercising military power. Despite frequent government intervention, the company had recurring problems with its finances, the official government machinery of British India had assumed its governmental functions and absorbed its armies. Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean, one of them, Edward Bonventure, then sailed around Cape Comorin to the Malay Peninsula and returned to England in 1594. In 1596, three ships sailed east, however, these were all lost at sea. Two days later, on 24 September, the Adventurers reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project, the Adventurers convened again a year later. For a period of fifteen years the charter awarded the newly formed company a monopoly on trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. Anybody who traded in breach of the charter without a licence from the Company was liable to forfeiture of their ships and cargo, the governance of the company was in the hands of one governor and 24 directors or committees, who made up the Court of Directors. They, in turn, reported to the Court of Proprietors, ten committees reported to the Court of Directors. According to tradition, business was transacted at the Nags Head Inn, opposite St Botolphs church in Bishopsgate. Sir James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601, in March 1604 Sir Henry Middleton commanded the second voyage. Early in 1608 Alexander Sharpeigh was appointed captain of the Companys Ascension, thereafter two ships, Ascension and Union sailed from Woolwich on 14 March 1607–8. Initially, the company struggled in the trade because of the competition from the already well-established Dutch East India Company. The company opened a factory in Bantam on the first voyage, the factory in Bantam was closed in 1683. During this time belonging to the company arriving in India docked at Surat. In the next two years, the company established its first factory in south India in the town of Machilipatnam on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal

24.
Ghazal
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The ghazal is a poetic form with rhyming couplets and a refrain, each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as an expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in Arabic poetry in Arabia long before the birth of Islam and it is derived from the Arabian panegyric qasida. The structural requirements of the ghazal are similar in stringency to those of the Petrarchan sonnet, in style and content, it is a genre that has proved capable of an extraordinary variety of expression around its central themes of love and separation. The ghazal spread into South Asia in the 12th century by the influence of Sufi mystics, although the ghazal is most prominently a form of Dari poetry and Urdu poetry, it is now found in the poetry of many languages on the Indian Subcontinent. Ghazals were written by Rumi and Hafiz of Persia, the Azeri poet Fuzûlî in the Ottoman Empire, Mirza Ghalib and Muhammad Iqbal of North India, and Kazi Nazrul Islam of Bengal. Through the influence of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the ghazal became very popular in Germany during the 19th century, the Kashmiri poet Agha Shahid Ali was a proponent of the form, both in English and in other languages, he edited a volume of real Ghazals in English. Ghazals were written by Moti Ram Bhatta, the pioneer for Ghazal writing in Nepali language and it is common in ghazals for the poets name to be featured in the last verse. The Arabic word غزل ġazal is pronounced, roughly like the English word guzzle, in English, the word is pronounced /ˈɡʌzəl/ or /ˈɡæzæl/. The most prominent subject of ghazal even after the end of era of Urdu literature has been love, specifically an unconditional. Ghazals from the Indian subcontinent have an influence of Islamic mysticism, Love is always viewed as something that will complete a human being, and if attained will lift him or her into the ranks of the wise, or will bring satisfaction to the soul of the poet. Traditional ghazal law may or may not have an element of sexual desire in it. The love may be directed to either a man or a woman, the ghazal is always written from the point of view of the unrequited lover whose beloved is portrayed as unattainable. Most often, either the beloved has not returned the love or returns it without sincerity or else the societal circumstances do not allow it. The lover is aware and resigned to this fate but continues loving nonetheless, representations of the lovers powerlessness to resist his feelings often include lyrically exaggerated violence. The beloveds power to captivate the speaker may be represented in extended metaphors about the arrows of his eyes, most ghazals can be viewed in a spiritual context, with the Beloved being a metaphor for God or the poets spiritual master. It is the intense Divine Love of Sufism that serves as a model for all the forms of love found in ghazal poetry, most ghazal scholars today recognize that some ghazal couplets are exclusively about Divine Love. Others are about love, but many of them can be interpreted in either context

25.
Ghalib
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Ghalib born Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan, on 27 December 1797 – died 15 February 1869), was the preeminent Urdu and Persian-language poet during the last years of the Mughal Empire. He used his pen-names of Ghalib and Asad, during his lifetime the Mughals were eclipsed and displaced by the British and finally deposed following the defeat of the Indian rebellion of 1857, events that he described. Most notably, he wrote several ghazals during his life, which have since been interpreted, Ghalib, the last great poet of the Mughal Era, is considered to be one of the most popular and influential poets of the Urdu language. Today Ghalib remains popular not only in India and Pakistan but also among the Hindustani diaspora around the world, Mirza Ghalib was born in Kala Mahal, Agra into a family descended from Aibak Turks who moved to Samarkand after the downfall of the Seljuk kings. His paternal grandfather, Mirza Qoqan Baig Khan, was a Saljuq Turk who had immigrated to India from Samarkand during the reign of Ahmad Shah and he worked at Lahore, Delhi and Jaipur, was awarded the subdistrict of Pahasu and finally settled in Agra, UP, India. He had four sons and three daughters, Mirza Abdullah Baig Khan and Mirza Nasrullah Baig Khan were two of his sons. Mirza Abdullah Baig Khan married Izzat-ut-Nisa Begum, an ethnic Kashmiri and he was employed first by the Nawab of Lucknow and then the Nizam of Hyderabad, Deccan. He died in a battle in 1803 in Alwar and was buried at Rajgarh, then Ghalib was a little over 5 years of age. He was raised first by his Uncle Mirza Nasrullah Baig Khan, at the age of thirteen, Ghalib married Umrao Begum, daughter of Nawab Ilahi Bakhsh. He soon moved to Delhi, along with his brother, Mirza Yousuf Khan. In accordance with upper class Muslim tradition, he had a marriage at the age of 13. After his marriage he settled in Delhi, in one of his letters he describes his marriage as the second imprisonment after the initial confinement that was life itself. The idea that life is one continuous painful struggle which can end only when life itself ends, is a theme in his poetry. Translation in English The prison of life and the bondage of grief are one and he has also later translated Faiz Ahmed Faizs most famous Ghazal - Gulon me rang bhare too. At the age of thirty he had seven children, none of whom survived, there are conflicting reports regarding his relationship with his wife. She was considered to be pious, conservative and God-fearing, Ghalib was proud of his reputation as a rake. He was once imprisoned for gambling and subsequently relished the affair with pride, in the Mughal court circles, he even acquired a reputation as a ladies man. Once, when someone praised the poetry of the pious Sheikh Sahbai in his presence, Ghalib immediately retorted, How can Sahbai be a poet

26.
Mumin
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For the books and comic strips by Tove Jansson, see Moomin. Mumin is an Arabic Islamic term, frequently referenced in the Quran and it denotes a person who has complete submission to the Will of Allah and has faith firmly established in his heart, i. e. a faithful Muslim. The term Mumina is used to identify a female that has the highest degree of faith in Islam, the Quran states, O you who believe. This verse addresses the believers, exhorting them to believe, implying multiple stages of belief, the term Mumin is the preferred term used in the Quran to describe monotheistic believers. The following verse makes a distinction between a Muslim and a believer, The Arabs of the say, We believe. Say thou, Ye believe not, but rather say, We profess Islam, but if ye obey God and His Apostle, He will not allow you to lose any of your actions, for God is Forgiving, Merciful. Iman Kafir Al-Mu’minoon Muhammads wives Amir al-Muminin http, //www. inminds. co. uk/imam-cassiem-talk. html http, //quran. com/23 Surat ul Muminoon

27.
Mohammad Ibrahim Zauq
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Sheikh Muhammad Ibrahim Zauq was an Urdu poet and scholar of literature, poetry and religion. He wrote poetry under nom de plume Zauq, and was appointed poet laureate of the Mughal Court in Delhi just at the age of 19, later he was given the title of Khaqani e Hind by the last Mughal emperor and his disciple Bahadur Shah Zafar. He was a youth, with only ordinary education, who went on to acquire learning in history, theology. Zauq was a prominent contemporary of Ghalib and in the history of Urdu poetry the rivalry of the two poets is quite well known. During his lifetime Zauq was more popular than Ghalib for the values in those days were mainly confined to judging a piece of poetry on the basis of usage of words, phrases. Content and style were not much taken into account while appreciating poetry Zauq was born at Delhi in 1789 and his father, Sheikh Muhammad Ramzan was a lowly placed soldier in the Mughal army. It was no less than a miracle that Zauq, without having the treatment on account of the penury of his family. His father had no means to equip his son with the best available education of the time and he was sent to a maktab that was run by Hafiz Ghulam Rasool. Hafiz himself was a poet and used Shauq as his nom de plume, under his influence the young Muhammad Ibrahim also got attracted towards poetry. Hafiz provided the encouragement, took him as his pupil in poetry too. Though Zauq could not complete the course of the maktab, he got hooked to poetry, in those days Shah Naseer was the most famous master poet of Delhi. Zauq began showing his ghazals to Shah Naseer for improvement, Naseer recognised the natural talent and made him his pupil. Gradually, Zauq began participating in the mushairas and his natural bent of mind towards poetry coupled with his singular obsession to excel in the pursuit brought him fame and fortune. He would be appreciated in the mushairas than his mentor. Shah Naseer got very annoyed with the popularity of Zauq. He threw him out of the group of his pupils, Zauq, thereafter, relied only on his talent and continued writing poetry with a vengeance. Another poet, Meer Kazim Husain Beqarar, a friend of Zauqs was appointed the mentor of the Crown Prince Zafar, through him Zauq could get the chance to enter the royal court. He also started participating in the royal mushairas and he remained the poet laureate of the Mughal Court till his death in 1854

28.
Ghazi (warrior)
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The related word ghazwa is a singulative form meaning a battle or military expedition, often one led by the Islamic prophet Muhammad. In English language literature, the word appears as razzia. In pre-Islamic Bedouin culture, ghazw was a form of limited warfare verging on brigandage that avoided head-on confrontations and instead emphasized raiding and looting, usually of livestock. The word was adopted from ġaziya of Algerian Arabic vernacular and later became a name for any act of pillage. The verbal noun of ġazā is ġazw or ġazawān, with the meaning raiding, a derived singulative in ġazwah refers to a single battle or raid. The term ghāzī dates to at least the Samanid period, where he appears as a mercenary and frontier fighter in Khorasan, later, up to 20,000 of them took part in the Indian campaigns of Mahmud of Ghazni. Ghāzī warriors depended upon plunder for their livelihood, and were prone to brigandage, the corporations into which they organized themselves attracted adventurers, zealots and religious and political dissidents of all ethnicities. In the west, Turkic ghāzīs made continual incursions along the Byzantine frontier zone, the height of the organizations would come during the Mongol conquest when many of them fled from Persia and Turkistan into Anatolia. In an inscription of 1337, Orhan, second ruler of the Ottoman line, describes himself as Sultan, son of the Sultan of the Gazis, the Ottoman poet Ahmedi, writing ca. 1402, defines gazis as the instruments of Gods religion, a servant of God who cleanses the earth from the filth of polytheism, the first nine Ottoman chiefs all used Ghazi as part of their full throne name, and often afterwards. When they won victories in the ghazā in the Balkans they used to send accounts of them as well as slaves, some Muslim rulers personally used the subsidiary style Padshah-i-Ghazi. The first Ghazwa he participated in was the Invasion of Waddan in August 623, when performed within the context of Islamic warfare, the ghazws function was to weaken the enemys defenses in preparation for his eventual conquest and subjugation. Non-Muslims acquired the status of dhimmīs, living under its protection, most Christian sources confuse these two stages in the Ottoman conquests. The Ottomans, however, were careful to abide by these rules, peasants in open country in particular lost nothing by this change. One such source is Averroes Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa-Nihāyat al-Muqtasid, in the 19th century, Muslim fighters in North Caucasus who were resisting the Russian military operations declared a gazawat against the Russian Orthodox invasion. Although uncertain, it is believed that Dagestani Islamic scholar Muhammad Yaragskii was the ideologist of this holy war, in 1825, a congress of ulema in the village of Yarag declared gazawat against the Russians. Its first leader was Ghazi Muhammad, after his death, Imam Shamil would eventually continue it, during the Second Chechen War, Chechnya announced gazawat against Russia. After the terrorist attacks on Paris in November 2015, the Islamic State group is said to have referred to its actions as ghazwa, probably the most famous use of the term ghazwa is in the phrase Manhattan Raid, used by Al-Qaeda to refer to the September 11th attacks

29.
Talwar
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The talwar, also spelled talwaar and tulwar, is a type of curved sword or sabre from the Indian Subcontinent, and is found in the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. The Hindi word Talvār originated from the Sanskrit word Taravāri which means one-edged sword, the talwar typically does not have as radical a curve as the shamshir and only a very small minority have the expanded, stepped, yelman typical of the kilij. The talwar was produced in many varieties, with different types of blades, some blades are very unusual, from those with double-pointed tips to those with massive blades. However, all such blades are curved, and the vast majority of talwars have blades more typical of a generalised sabre, many examples of the talwar exhibit an increased curvature in the distal half of the blade, compared to the curvature nearer the hilt. Also relatively common is a widening of the blade near the tip, a typical talwar has a wider blade than the shamshir. Late examples often had European-made blades, set into distinctive Indian-made hilts, the hilt of the typical talwar is termed a disc hilt from the prominent disc-shaped flange surrounding the pommel. The pommel often has a spike projecting from its centre. The hilt incorporates a simple cross-guard which frequently has a slender knucklebow attached, the hilt is usually entirely of iron, though brass and silver hilts are found, and is connected to the tang of the blade by a very powerful adhesive resin. More ornate examples of the talwar often show silver or gilt decoration in a form called koftigari, the talwar was used by both cavalry and infantry. The grip of the talwar is cramped and the prominent disc of the pommel presses into the wrist if attempts are made to use it to cut like a conventional sabre. These features of the talwar hilt result in the hand having a secure and rather inflexible hold on the weapon. The fact that the talwar does not have the kind of curve of the shamshir indicates that it could be used for thrusting as well as cutting purposes. The blades of some examples of the Talwar widen towards the tip and this increases the momentum of the distal portion of the blade when used to cut, when a blow was struck by a skilled warrior, limbs could be amputated and persons decapitated. The spike attached to the pommel could be used for striking the opponent in close quarter circumstances when it was not always possible to use the blade. The talwar can be held with the fore finger wrapped around the lower quillon of the cross guard, khanda Mughal weapons Firangi Sabre Pulwar Shamshir Kilij Saif Kukri Bull, Stephen. An Historical Guide to Arms and Armour, ISBN 1-85170-723-9 Evangelista, N. and Gaugler, W. M. ISBN 0-313-27896-2 Nicolle, D. Crusader Warfare, Muslims, Mongols, ISBN 1-84725-146-3, ISBN 978-1-84725-146-6 Robson, B. Swords of the British Army, Arms and Armour Press, a Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor, Southworth Press, Portland Maine

30.
William Stephen Raikes Hodson
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Brevet Major William Stephen Raikes Hodson was a British leader of irregular light cavalry during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, commonly referred to as the Indian Mutiny or the Sepoy Mutiny. He was known as Hodson of Hodsons Horse and his most celebrated action was to apprehend Bahadur Shah II, the king of Delhi. The following day he rode to the camp, heavily outnumbered by the rebels. Hodsons career received praise from a number of military commanders, such as General Hugh Gough. There were also a few politicians who felt the killing of Mughal princes by Hodson had been dishonourable, however, Hodsons career received praise from more senior politicians including the prime minister and the secretary of state for India. Hodson is credited with being responsible for the introduction of the khaki uniform. William Hodson was born on 19 March 1821 at Maisemore Court, near Gloucester, third son of the Rev. George Hodson and his older brother was Rev. Dr James Stephen Hodson FRSE who served for many years as Rector of Edinburgh Academy. He was educated at Rugby School under Thomas Arnold and at Trinity College, Cambridge and he accepted a cadetship in the Indian Army at the age of twenty-three, and after joining the 2nd Bengal Grenadiers he went through the First Anglo-Sikh War. He was soon transferred to the 1st European Bengal Fusiliers. Hodson delighted in fighting and his weapon was the hog spear. He was a brilliant horseman with the capacity to sleep in the saddle and he was described as the finest swordsman in the army. The initial assistance he gave in organising the newly formed Corps of Guides in December 1846 had been one of Sir Henry Lawrences projects in which Hodson excelled, the Guides Corps had Lt Harry Burnett Lumsden as its commandant and Lt Hodson as adjutant. One of his duties was equipping the new regiment, including choosing the regiments uniform, with Lumsdens approval, Hodson decided upon a lightweight uniform of Khaki colour - or drab as it was then referred to. This would be comfortable to wear and make them invisible in a land of dust, accordingly, in May 1848 he liaised with his brother Rev. George H. Hodson, in England, to send drab cloth for 900 men as well as 300 carbines. As a result, Hodson and Lumsden had the joint distinction of being the first officers to clothe a regiment in Khaki, later on, he was transferred to the Civil Department as Assistant Commissioner in 1849 and stationed at Amritsar. From there he travelled in Kashmir and Tibet, in 1852 he was appointed Commandant of the Corps of Guides. On 5 January 1852, he married Susan Annette, daughter of Capt C, Henry, RN and widow of John Mitford of Exbury, at Calcutta Cathedral, whom he had known and liked for some time prior to her first marriage. A daughter, Olivia, was born in 1853 but died in July 1854, while it was unusual at that time for a British soldier in India to be a Cambridge graduate, William further differed from the norm by enjoying classical literature for relaxation

31.
Humayun's Tomb
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Humayuns tomb is the tomb of the Mughal Emperor Humayun in Delhi, India. The tomb was commissioned by Humayuns first wife and chief consort, Empress Bega Begum, in 1569-70, and designed by Mirak Mirza Ghiyas, a Persian architect chosen by her. It was the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent, and is located in Nizamuddin East, Delhi, India, close to the Dina-panah Citadel, also known as Purana Qila and it was also the first structure to use red sandstone at such a scale. The tomb was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993, and since then has undergone restoration work. It is seen as a departure from the fairly modest mausoleum of his father. Though the latter was the first Emperor to start the tradition of being buried in a paradise garden, at the time of the Slave Dynasty this land was under the KiloKheri Fort which was capital of Sultan Kequbad, son of Nasiruddin. After his death on 20 January 1556, Humayuns body was first buried in his palace in Purana Quila at Delhi, thereaft Purana Quila, would damage the tomb. In 1558, it was seen by his son, the then Mughal Emperor, Akbar subsequently visited the tomb when it was about to be completed in 1571. The tomb of Humayun was built by the orders of Humayuns first wife and chief consort, the construction began in 1565, nine years after his death, and completed in 1572 AD at a cost of 1.5 million rupes at the time. The cost for building the mausoleum was paid entirely by Empress Bega Begum, Ghiyas, to whom the mausoleums exquisite design is attributed was chosen to be the architect by Empress Bega Begum. Unfortunately, before the completion, he died and so his son Sayyed Muhammad ibn Mirak Ghiyathuddin completed his fathers design in 1571. An English merchant, William Finch, who visited the tomb in 1611, the fortunes of the once famous Charbagh gardens, which spread over 13 hectares surrounding the monument, changed repeatedly over the years after its construction. The capital had shifted to Agra in 1556, and the decline of the Mughals accelerated the decay of the monument and its features. By the early 18th century, the lush gardens were replaced by vegetable garden of people who had settled within the walled area. These camps stayed open for five years, and caused considerable damage not only to the extensive gardens, but also to the water channels. Eventually, to vandalism, the cenotaphs within the mausoleum were encased in brick. In the coming years, the Archaeological Survey of India, took on responsibility for the preservation of monuments in India. Until 1985, four attempts were made to reinstate the original water features

32.
Sepoy
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A sepoy was formerly the designation given to an Indian soldier. In the modern Nepalese Army, Indian Army, Pakistan Army, the term sepoy is derived from the Persian word sepāhī meaning infantry soldier in the Mughal Empire. In the Ottoman Empire the term Sipahi was used to refer to cavalry troopers, in its most common application, sepoy was the term used in the British Indian Army, and earlier in that of the British East India Company, for an infantry private. Initially it referred to Hindu or Muslim soldiers without regular uniform or discipline and it later generically referred to all native soldiers in the service of the European powers in India. Close to ninety-six percent of the British East India Companys army of 300,000 men were native to India, a Sipahi or a sepoy was an infantryman in both the Mughal Empire and the Kingdom of Mysore. The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb raised battalions of sepoys variously armed with matchlocks, rockets and these troops were successfully employed in siege warfare, particularly during the Siege of Bidar, the Siege of Bijapur and the Siege of Golconda. Initially the British recruited sepoys from the communities in the Madras and Bombay Presidencies. In the Bengal Army however, recruitment was only amongst high caste Brahmin and Rajput communities, mainly of the Uttar Pradesh, recruitment was undertaken locally by battalions or regiments often from the same community, village and even family. The commanding officer of a battalion became a form of substitute for the chief or gaon bura. He was the mai-baap or the father and mother of the making up the paltan. There were many family and community ties amongst the troops and numerous instances where family members enlisted in the battalion or regiment. The izzat of the unit was represented by the regimental colours and these colours were stored in honour in the quarter guard and frequently paraded before the men. They formed a point in battle. The oath of fealty by the sepoy was given to the East India Company, the salary of the sepoys employed by the East India Company, while not substantially greater than that paid by the rulers of Indian states, was usually paid regularly. Advances could be given and family allotments from pay due were permitted when the troops served abroad, there was a commisariat and regular rations were provided. Weapons, clothing and ammunition were provided centrally, in contrast to the soldiers of local kings whose pay was often in arrears, in addition local rulers usually expected their sepoys to arm themselves and to sustain themselves through plunder. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 the surviving East India Company regiments were merged into a new Indian Army under the control of the British Crown. The designation of sepoy was retained for Indian soldiers below the rank of lance naik, following the formation of the French East India Company in 1719, companies of Indian sepoys were raised to augment the French regulars and Swiss mercenary troops available

33.
Gurjar
–
Gurjar or Gujjar are a pastoral agricultural ethnic group with populations in India and Pakistan and a small number in northeastern Afghanistan. Alternative spellings include Gurjara, Gurjjar, Gojar and Gūjar, although they are able to speak the language of the country where they live, Gurjars have their own language, known as Gujari. They variously follow Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism, the Gurjars are classified as Other Backward Class in some states in India, however, Gurjars in Jammu and Kashmir and parts of Himachal Pradesh are categorised as a Scheduled Tribe. Hindu Gurjars were assimilated into various varnas in the medieval period, historians and anthropologists differ on issue of Gurjar origin. According to this view, Gurjars came in waves of migration. Aydogdy Kurbanov states that some Gurjars, along with people from northwestern India, according to scholars such as Baij Nath Puri, the Mount Abu region of present-day Rajasthan had been abode of the Gurjars during medieval period. The association of the Gurjars with the mountain is noticed in many inscriptions and these Gurjars migrated from the Arbuda mountain region and as early as in the 6th century A. D. In Sanskrit texts, the ethnonym has sometimes been interpreted as destroyer of the enemy, gur meaning enemy, irawati Karve, the Indologist and historian, believed that the Gurjars position in society and the caste system generally varied from one linguistic area of India to another. In Maharashtra, Karve thought that they were absorbed by the Rajputs and Marathas. Bhandarkar believed that Gurjara-Pratiharas were a clan of Gurjars, in the 18th century, several Gurjar chieftains and small kings were in power. During the reign of Rohilla Nawab Najib-ul-Daula, Dargahi Singh, the Gurjar chieftain of Dadri possessed 133 villages at a revenue of Rs.29,000. A fort at Parlchhatgarh in Meerut District, also known as Qila Parikishatgarh, is ascribed to a Gurjar Raja Nain Singh, during the revolt of 1857, the Gurjars of Chundrowli rose against the British, under the leadership of Damar Ram. The Gurjars of Shunkuri village, numbering around three thousand, joined the rebel sepoys, according to British records, the Gurjars plundered gunpowder and ammunition from the British and their allies. In Delhi, the Metcalfe House was sacked by Gurjar villagers from whom the land was taken to erect the building, the British records claim that the Gurjars carried out several robberies. Twenty Gurjars were reported to have been beheaded by Rao Tula Ram for committing dacoities in July 1857, in September 1857, the British were able to enlist the support of many Gurjars at Meerut. The colonial authors always used the word turbulent for the castes who were generally hostile to British rule. They cited proverbs that appear to evaluate the caste in an unfavorable light, a British administrator, William Crooke, described that Gurjars seriously impeded the operations of the British Army before Delhi. Small pockets of Gurjars are found in Afghanistans northeastern region, particularly in, some in India remain Hindu, although further west many are Muslim

34.
Khooni Darwaza
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Khooni Darwaza, also referred to as Lal Darwaza, is located near Delhi Gate, on the Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in Delhi, India. It is one of the 13 surviving gates in Delhi and it was just south of the fortified Old Delhi constructed by Sher Shah Suri. This is also called as Kabuli Darwaza, Khooni Darwaza was situated on an open tract of land before the rise of modern buildings around it. It lies today on the Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg opposite the Feroz Shah Kotla cricket ground, to the west is the entrance to the Maulana Azad Medical College. It lies about half a kilometre to the south of the Delhi Gate of Old Delhi, Hodson obtained the surrender of the Emperor, and the next day asked for an unconditional surrender from the three princes at Humayuns Tomb. Hudson arrested about 16 members of the Emperors family and was transporting them from the fort in horse driven carriage accompanied by a platoon of 100 Savars or mounted soldiers. On reaching this gate, he was stopped and surrounded by thousands of Muslims, hudson latter recalled, I was surrounded on all side by Ghazis as far as my eyes could see. Others assert that Hodson ordered the three to get down at the spot, stripped naked and shot them dead at point blank range. The bodies were taken away and put up for public display in front of a Kotwali. The Khooni Darwaza was an archway during the revolt of 1857 and it is often mistaken for the original Kabul Gate of Old Delhi. A lot of legends have since been woven around the place possibly as a result of the depressing name. A few legends attributed to the place, but are unlikely to have occurred at the location and he ordered two sons of Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana, one of the Navratnas, be executed at this gate. Their bodies were left to rot at the gate, aurangzeb defeated his elder brother Dara Shikoh in the struggle for the throne and had his head displayed at the gate. The gate is supposed to have seen bloodshed in 1739 when Delhi was ransacked by Nadir Shah of Persia, however, this is also disputed - according to some sources, this massacre occurred at another gate of the same name located in the Dariba locality of Chandni Chowk. A few stories also refer to the place being called Khooni Darwaza during the Mughal reign, during the riots of 1947, more bloodshed occurred near the gate when several refugees going to the camp established in Purana Qila were killed here. Khooni Darwaza is today a monument under the aegis of the Archaeological Survey of India. It gained more notoriety in December 2002, when a student was raped there by three youths. The incident sparked much uproar and was discussed in the Parliament of India

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Delhi Gate, Delhi
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Delhi Gate is the southern gate of many in the historic walled city of Delhi, or Shahjahanabad. The gate links the New Delhi city with the old walled city of Delhi and it stands in the middle of the road, at the end of Netaji Subhash Chandra Road, at the edge of the Daryaganj. The Gate was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in 1638 as part of the rubble–built high fort walls that encircled the Shahajahanabad, the emperor used this gate to go to the Jama Masjid for prayer. The gate is similar in design and architecture to the gate of the walled city. It was built in sandstone and is an impressive and large structure, near the gate entry, two stone carvings of elephants were erected. The road from this gate passes through Daryaganj leading to the Kashmiri gate, a part of the fort wall to the east has been demolished to build the Old Delhi Railway Station while the wall to the west exists. The gate is now a site maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India

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Crown of Bahadur Shah II
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The Crown of the Bahadur Shah II is the head dress of last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II. It was created in the second quarter 19th century, most probably in Delhi or the areas by goldsmiths. It is strictly speaking not a crown, but an article of head dress, the materials used are gold, turquoises, rubies, diamonds, pearls, emeralds, feathers and velvet. Its dimensions are 28.5 x 23.5 x 23.5 cm and it is part of the Royal Collection with the inventory number RCIN67236. It was exhibited at the British Library in 2013, victoria & Albert, Art & Love. An Englishwoman in India, The Memoirs of Harriet Tytler, 1828-58, ISBN 978-0192821003 Crown of the Emperor Bahadur Shah II at the Royal Collection

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Royal Collection
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The Royal Collection is the art collection of the British Royal Family and the largest private art collection in the world. The Queen owns some objects in the collection in right of the Crown, the Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace in London was built specially to exhibit pieces from the collection on a rotating basis. There is an art gallery next to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The Crown Jewels are on display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. About 3,000 objects are on loan to museums throughout the world, few items from before King Henry VIII survive. The most important additions to the collection were made by Charles I, a collector of Italian paintings. Many works have been given from the collection to museums, especially by George III and Victoria, in particular, most of the then royal library was given by George III to the British Museum, now the British Library, where many books are still catalogued as Royal. The core of this collection was the purchase by James I of the collections of Humphrey Llwyd, Lord Lumley. Throughout the reign of Elizabeth II, there have been significant additions to the collection through purchases, bequests and through gifts from nation states. Numbering over 7,000 works, spread across the Royal Residences, numbering over 300 items, the Royal Collection holds one of the greatest and most important collections of French furniture ever assembled. The collection is noted for its range as well as counting the greatest cabinet-makers of the Ancien Régime. The Royal Collection is privately owned, although some of the works are displayed in areas of palaces, some of the collection is owned by the monarch personally, and everything else is described as being held in trust by the monarch in right of the Crown. All works of art acquired by monarchs up to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 are heirlooms which fall into the latter category. Items the British royal family acquired later, including official gifts, ambiguity surrounds the status of objects that have come into Queen Elizabeth IIs possession during her reign. The Royal Collection Trust has confirmed that all pieces left to the Queen by the Queen Mother belong to her personally, non-personal items are said to be inalienable as they can only be willed to the monarchs successor. The legal accuracy of this claim has never been substantiated in court, in a 2000 television interview, the Duke of Edinburgh said that the Queen was technically, perfectly at liberty to sell them. In 1995, Iain Sproat, then Secretary of State for National Heritage, a registered charity, the Royal Collection Trust was set up in 1993 after the Windsor Castle fire with a mandate to conserve the works and enhance the publics appreciation and understanding of art. It employs around 500 staff and is one of the five departments of the Royal Household, buildings do not come under its remit